Secret Injury
by TheWeatherOutside
Summary: Gordon's hurt, but Virgil needs him. He can set aside his own injuries if that'll mean his brother is safe, right? (Day 24 of Whumptober 2019 - Secret Injury)


Gordon could recall too many times that he had woken up like this. In a room full of debris and trying to remember how he had gotten there.

It had been a rescue, an earthquake maybe? Yeah, an earthquake had hit a city and International Rescue had come to help out the local search and rescue.

Gordon and Virgil had been working together, steadily sweeping each building looking for survivors. However, just as they had wandered into their next building, an aftershock had hit and that was the last thing that Gordon remembered.

Gordon laid there for a moment as he processed it all, but then his eyes shot open as he remembered something.

_Virgil._

Gordon went to sit up, but as soon as he moved in just the slightest, pain shot through his body. He took a moment to just breathe, and then he tried again. Everything hurt and the pain was almost unbearable, but he needed to get up. Needed to make sure that his brother was okay.

Once he was up, he ignored the pain he felt in favour of searching for his brother. There was a groan from his right and he turned to find a speck of green partially buried underneath some debris.

"Virgil!" Gordon's voice croaked and he began the slow crawl over to where his brother lay just a small ways away from him.

When he reached him, he saw that Virgil was thankfully already awake and pushing some of the debris off of himself.

"Virgil?"

Virgil turned towards Gordon when he heard his voice, and seemed to relax when he saw him.

"Gordon…" Virgil breathed out in relief. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Gordon decided to forgo mentioning about his injuries for now, not that he had even had a chance to check to see what injuries he actually had. First, he needed to think about his brother. "I'm fine. What about you?"

Gordon then began to cast his eyes over Virgil for any visible injuries, but he couldn't see anything obvious. That didn't meant there weren't any hidden wounds though.

Virgil seemed to think about that for a moment, most likely mentally checking himself over to see if he felt any pain anywhere.

"I don't think I'm hurt. Just have this debris that I can't lift off myself at this angle. Could you help?"

"Sure," Gordon immediately agreed before he realised what implications that could have on his injuries. He just decided to push that to the back of his mind for now. Maybe it wasn't that bad.

He turned to the debris that was covering his brother. There were a couple of beams criss-crossing across his brother's chest. They didn't appear to be that heavy which gratefully meant that they wouldn't be putting too much pressure on Virgil's lungs or chest. That also meant that they'd be easy for Gordon to lift.

However, Gordon quickly saw the problem as he followed the length of the beams and found that the ends of both of them were covered in further wreckage and rubble. Gordon was going to need to move all that debris before he could move the beams.

He could do it though. So he stood up on legs that refused to cooperate and got to work.

* * *

It didn't take long for Gordon to piece together where some of his injuries laid. As soon as he picked up the first piece of debris, pain pierced through his wrist and he almost dropped the slab of concrete he was holding. He could feel Virgil's eyes boring into the back of his head, and he tried to keep his composure as he couldn't let Virgil know he was hurt.

He powered on through the pain, although it seemed to get worse the more he moved about. Thankfully, his legs were only sore and the worst injury they probably had were bruises, so at least he could walk and stand with minimal problems.

However, there was a pain in his chest that flared up whenever he moved, which was all the time. He had to clench his teeth every time he bent down to pick up the next piece of debris and move it to the side. Virgil probably had to have noticed Gordon's silence as he worked, but he didn't say anything. If he did, Gordon would just brush it off and say that he was just concentrating on his work, even though he was actually concentrating on not yelling out in pain.

It was slow going, but eventually one side of the beams was cleared. He stood up straight as he tried to draw in a deep breath even though it hurt his chest. He could feel that he was drenched in sweat and he was shaking in pain.

He tried to stay just out of Virgil's line of sight as he took off his helmet and wiped his brow with his non-injured hand. He looked across at the other side of the beams where more debris laid. He really didn't think he could move any more. He was exhausted and the pain was all he could feel at that point. Hopefully what he had already moved was enough.

Gordon took another deep breath before he steeled himself and made his way back over to Virgil.

"I've moved enough debris that I should be able to lift these beams enough for you to wiggle your way out. Do you think you can do that?" Gordon could hear how his voice was tight as he spoke and he hoped that Virgil didn't notice.

Virgil did eye Gordon a little worriedly, but thankfully instead of saying anything he nodded and prepared himself to move.

Gordon walked back over to the beams and crouched down to grab both beams, one under each arm.

"Ready?" Gordon asked, although he didn't know if the question was directed at himself or his brother.

"Yep," came Virgil's reply.

And then Gordon was lifting the beams. Fortunately, the beams were fairly light and the only resistance Gordon was met with was the heavy debris on the other end. He slowly straightened his knees as the beams were lifted higher, and when they were high enough he saw Virgil crawl out from under them.

Although, when Gordon straightened up there was suddenly a sharp pain that pierced through his side.

He dropped the beams once Virgil was clear, and looked down to find that he was sluggishly bleeding through a tear in his uniform.

"Oh." How had that happened?

"Gordon?" He heard Virgil's concerned voice come from behind him.

Oh yeah, Virgil was okay, he was free. Gordon's job was done, he could rest now.

And that's exactly what Gordon did as he felt his legs give out and he fell to the floor.

* * *

The next time Gordon woke up it was again in a situation he knew all too well, except this time it was a much more welcomed location.

He recognised the worn, yet comfortable bed beneath him was the one in the island's infirmary. He opened his eyes, blinking against the bright light before his vision came into focus. Just like he had suspected, he was in the infirmary. He cast his gaze around the room until it settled on the man sat next to his bed.

Virgil was sleeping in the chair next to him with his head buried in his arms on the bed. Gordon smiled, it was nice to see a moment when his brother's brow wasn't creased and he actually relaxed for a bit.

However, that moment didn't last long as a second later Virgil woke up.

Virgil instantly turned towards Gordon, that crease back again. So much for that moment.

"Gordon?" Virgil's voice was groggy with sleep. "How're you feeling?"

"Not terrible." Gordon was in that sweet moment when he was hopped up on medication and he couldn't feel any pain. He knew it wouldn't be long before he did, though, so he was enjoying it whilst it lasted.

Virgil reached up to rub his eyes as he yawned, and that was when Gordon noticed the bandage around his wrist.

"You're hurt?"

Virgil looked down to his wrist like he had forgotten about it and then he put it down to rest on the bed.

"Just a sprain. Nowhere near as bad as you."

He gestured to Gordon's own wrist that Gordon had just noticed was in a cast. He lifted his arm and tried to flex his fingers, but his hand felt lethargic and stiff, so he just let it fall back down onto the bed.

"You broke your wrist, amongst other things." Virgil seemed to be more awake as he leant back in his seat and crossed his arms. His expression had gone from worried to stern, and Gordon almost wanted to sink back into the bed under that glare.

"Like what?"

"Broken ribs, as well as a deep laceration in your side from a piece of shrapnel." Virgil leaned forward again with a sigh and placed his head in his hands and his elbows on the bed. "Gordon, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"

Ah, yeah, that question. Gordon was just waiting for it to come.

"I don't know," Gordon shrugged. Virgil saw straight through his lie though, and he looked up from his hands with a glare.

"Gordon." He said sternly.

Gordon sighed, knowing he couldn't just brush him off.

"For you. You were trapped and I needed to help you!"

"Gordon, you didn't need to help me. If you were hurt then-"

"No, I did." Gordon cut him off. "If I didn't help you then we'd still be stuck in that building."

"We could have waited for local emergency services, or Scott or-"

"What if there was another aftershock whilst we were waiting?" Gordon asked.

Virgil hesitated, and Gordon knew that he had caught him out.

"There was another aftershock wasn't there?" A smug smiled crept onto Gordon's face.

Virgil exhaled as he slumped in his seat, his stern composure dropping.

"Yeah, there was. Not long after we got into Thunderbird Two."

"Soooo?" Gordon said slowly, waiting for what Virgil was going to say next.

"So, putting yourself under that much stress when you're hurt is not the right thing to do, but maybe it did work out this time."

Gordon grinned.

"Don't act so smug. You're lucky that you didn't injure yourself further." Virgil still smiled, unable to stay angry at his brother for too long. "But next time, you tell me when you're hurt. Okay?"

"Deal."

They settled into a comfortable silence. Gordon could feel exhaustion start to pull at his body and his eyelids began to feel heavy. However, he refused to give into sleep just yet.

"Hey, Virg?"

"Hmm?"

"I am sorry," he said quietly. He couldn't deny that there was a lingering guilt that stemmed from making his brother worry.

Virgil reached for his hand, a smile still pulling at his lips.

"I know," Virgil said softy. "Get some rest, Gordon."

Gordon gave him a small smile and closed his eyes, finally allowing himself to fall into the realms of sleep and content that because of him his brother was safe.


End file.
